


A Father's Guilt

by waddiwasiwitch



Series: The Mustang Family Collection [5]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Royai - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-08 00:24:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7735831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waddiwasiwitch/pseuds/waddiwasiwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Night time terrors are a family problem. When Maes Mustang wakes after a nightmare, Roy lays the blame at his own feet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Father's Guilt

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @runningalchemist for the prompt on Tumblr.
> 
>  
> 
> **Prompt 8: The floor is lava**

A loud scream reverberated through the room. Roy and Riza jumped up suddenly in their bed. The screaming had stopped but sobbing took its place.  
Roy’s mouth went dry. “Maes!”  
Fear reached into his chest and squeezed at his heart. My son.  
“It’s probably just a nightmare,” Riza said, even as she reached for the gun she kept on her bedside table.  
After the earlier events of the day, they were not going to take any chances. Roy stumbled from the bed, stubbing his toe off the leg of the bed. He barely registered the pain and hobbled across the room to the door. Throwing open the door, Roy headed toward the sound of the sobbing, Riza at his heels.  
“Maes!”  
There was nothing amiss when they stepped out onto the landing. He reached his son’s bedroom after what felt like an eternity. He put his hand on the door handle and pressed down hard. The bedroom door opened and Roy sighed in relief. Maes’ tiny form was tangled in the bed sheets.  
“No, no, no!”  
The boy was murmuring in his sleep, tear tracks down his face. Roy crossed the room and shook the boy’s shoulder gently.  
“You’re dreaming, kiddo,” he whispered.  
He sat down on the bed as he noticed the boy’s eyes start to open. Roy looked over to the door, where Riza was resting against the door frame with a small smile on her face. Roy felt a little ridiculous for being so worried.  
“Dad?” Maes rubbed at his eyes. “Don’t step down off the bed. The floor is lava.”  
Roy tried not to laugh. “It’s okay - you’re just dreaming. Look down, it’s perfectly normal.”  
“Oh!” Maes sniffed and peered carefully over the side of the bed.  
“Just a nightmare, honey,” Riza added stepping into the room.  
Maes eyes widened and looked from one parent to the other. “I’m safe!”  
The boy struggled to extricate himself from the blankets, climbed into his father’s lap and wrapped his arms around his neck.  
“Daddy!” Maes was still trembling and he buried his face in his father’s chest. “I was so scared.”  
“Hey – it was just a nasty dream.” Roy rubbed circles into his back. “Do you want to talk about it?”  
Maes pulled back and looked up at him. “There was fire!”  
Roy felt sick. He had never wanted to bring flame alchemy into his son’s world, but he would do anything to keep his son from harm. It had all happened in seconds - the gunshot ringing out, Riza throwing herself bodily over their son and Roy erecting a huge wall of flame around his family to shield them from the view of would be assassins. His quick actions had saved their lives, but not without traumatising his son it seemed.  
“Daddy?”  
“I’m sorry, son. Did I scare you today?” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Is that why you’re having a nightmare?”  
The boy shook his head. “Of course not, Daddy.”  
Roy frowned at Maes’ words. “I know you haven’t see me use my fire before, because I don’t like to use it as it’s very dangerous.”  
“But you used it to save us, didn’t you?”  
“Yes – it was just to give you time to get inside.”  
“And nobody got hurted,” Maes added with a firm nod.  
Roy figured Riza must have already talked to him about it. His son wrapped his arms around him again and leaned against his chest.  
“I wasn’t scared,” Maes continued, “because you were there. I know you or Mommy wouldn’t let anyone hurt me.”  
Oh Maes. Roy brushed his lips against his son’s head. He could feel his eyes well in emotion. He wished it were true. If only it was as simple as that. His family came close to being harmed today, and yet his boy didn’t doubt him for a moment.  
_What trust he has in me!_ Roy shook his head. _The trust of a child is such a pure thing, and I’m an undeserving monster._  
A familiar hand squeezed his shoulder and the mattress dipped beside him. Roy looked over and met Riza’s eyes.  
“Why are you crying?” Maes pulled back from his father’s chest.  
“I’m not crying,” Roy lied.  
“Yes, you are.” Maes reached up to his face and brushed his cheek. He held out his finger to show it to Roy. “See – wet.”  
“Useless when wet,” Roy joked with a wet chuckle.  
Riza took his hand, intertwined her fingers with his. “Softie!”  
Roy sent a playful glare her way.  
“Can I sleep in your bed tonight?” Maes pleaded, looking from his mother to his father.  
“What do you think, Daddy?” Riza asked.  
Roy pretended to mull it over and tilted his head. “Hmmm.”.  
“Please!! Please! I’ll be good, I promise.”  
“Okay you win, kiddo.” Roy ruffled the boy’s hair. Poor Maes had inherited his father’s messy mop.  
“Maes, we need to get your hair cut!” Riza said picking up her son.  
Maes groaned..  
Roy waggled a finger. “You promised to be good, didn’t you?”  
“Sorry Mom,” Maes said quickly.  
Riza carried Maes out of the room. Roy put his hand to his mouth and yawned as he followed his wife and son into the bedroom. Riza laid Maes down in the middle of the double bed and got in beside him, while Roy closed the door and turned off the light. Roy took his place on the other side of the bed.  
“Goodnight,” he whispered.  
“’Night, Roy,” Riza said sleepily and closed her eyes.  
Maes shifted between them. “ Dad, are dragons real?”  
“No, son, but if they were I reckon I could take them on.”  
Riza had opened her eyes again, and was rolling them.  
“Were you dreaming about dragons, Maes?”  
“Yup!”  
“Will you two please go to sleep?” Riza asked.  
“You heard your Mom,” Roy said. “She needs her beauty sleep.”  
Instead of quietening, Maes started to giggle. Roy got a mouthful of pillow.  
“Riza!”  
“Serves you right,” she said, her lip twitching.  
Maes pulled at his shirt and whispered, “And volcanos, are they real?”  
“Yeah – very dangerous things,” Roy whispered back, “but there are none in Amestris, I promise.”  
“Okay.”  
“Now, let’s get some sleep before its time to get up again. I know somebody else..” Roy poked his son’s belly, “that gets very cranky when he doesn’t get enough sleep.”  
“Uh huh.” Maes yawned as if on cue and snuggled in between Roy and Riza. “Love you, Mom, Dad.”  
“Love you too,” Roy replied.  
Maes closed his eyes and Roy smiled as he stared at the miracle lying between him and his wife.  
_What did we do to deserve him? Given our sins, we really are blessed_.  
Once his friend had given him advice that he didn’t really understand.  
“Don’t be so busy feeling guilty that you forget to live.”  
It truly was appropriate that their son was named after him.

The end!!


End file.
